“ | Think on your sins. | „ |
~ Silva's message to M. |
“ | Hello, James. Welcome. Do you like the island? My grandmother had an island. Nothing to boast of. You could walk around it in an hour. But still, it was a paradise for us. One summer, we went for a visit and discovered the place had been infested with rats! They'd come on a fishing boat and gorged themselves on coconut. So how do you get rats off an island? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid, then wired coconut to the lid as bait. And the rats would come for the coconut and... they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the rats. But what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it. And they begin to get hungry. And one by one... they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees. But now they don't eat coconut anymore. Now they only eat rat. You have changed their nature. The two survivors, this is what she made us. | „ |
~ Silva's "Last Two Rats" monologue. |
Tiago Rodriguez, better known as Raoul Silva, is the main antagonist of the 2012 film Skyfall, the third installment of the James Bond reboot film series.
He is a former MI6 agent stationed in Hong Kong prior to the Handover, who worked under M until she turned him over to the Chinese government. Fifteen years later, Silva commits a series of terrorist attacks as part of a larger plan to publicly discredit and kill her as revenge for her betrayal.
He was portrayed by Javier Bardem, who also played Felix Reyes-Torrena in Collateral, Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, Felix Marti in The Gunman, Armando Salazar in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Him in mother!, and José Menéndez in Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Tiago Rodriguez was once an agent of MI6, working under M when she was the head of Station H in Hong Kong from 1986 to 1997, specializing in cyberterrorism. During his first meeting with James Bond, he recounts a story from his childhood: his grandmother owned a small island, which he and his family would visit every summer. During one such visit, they discovered that the island had become infested with rats that had arrived on a fishing boat and fed off the coconuts that grew there. To deal with them, his grandmother captured them all in an oil drum, which she then sealed to prevent them from escaping. When they reopened the drum a month later, they discovered that the rats had resorted to cannibalism in order to survive until only two remained; instead of exterminating them, his grandmother released the surviving two rats, only now they would only eat rat instead of coconut. Rodriguez uses this story as a metaphor describing what M turned himself and Bond into.
In the time leading up to the Handover of Hong Kong, Rodriguez began working outside his brief as an agent by hacking into Chinese Intelligence without authorization. With the Chinese closing in on him, M turned him over to them in exchange for six other previously captured agents and a peaceful transfer of sovereignty.
For the next five months, Rodriguez was brutally tortured "in a room with no air", but he refused to divulge any state secrets. Upon learning it was M who gave him up, he tried to commit suicide by biting into a cyanide capsule. Rather than kill him, however, the cyanide left him disfigured, with a collapsed left cheek and rotting teeth (he would later disguise his disfigurement with a dental prosthetic). Rodriguez blamed M for his misfortune and swore revenge.
After escaping from captivity, he reinvented himself as Raoul Silva and became a cyber-terrorist for hire. He hired two henchmen, Sévérine and Patrice in aiding his goal of revenge.
Skyfall[]
Silva has Patrice steal a flash drive containing the names and locations of several undercover N.A.T.O. agents and publish this information on the Internet, resulting in the deaths of several of these agents when the terrorist groups they are embedded in learn of their identities. He then sends M a taunting message as he hacks into MI-6's encrypted network and blows up the agency's headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, killing dozens of agents. M orders Bond to find the person responsible, sending him to Shanghai. After killing Patrice, Bond meets with Sévérine, who agrees to take him to her boss.
Upon travelling to Silva's island (thanks to the Boat Captain), Bond is captured and meets with Silva himself. Silva at first tries to intimidate Bond by making a disturbing and quasi-sexual advance toward him. When that doesn't work, Silva appeals to Bond's resentment of M, who left him for dead during an earlier mission, and offers to bring him into the cyber-terrorism operation. Bond refuses, however, so Silva leads him outside and challenges him to a game of William Tell (as a way of having Bond to regain his marksmanship scores), using Sévérine as the target. Bond deliberately misses, after which Silva shoots Sévérine square in the face, killing her. Bond kills Silva's henchmen and uses the distress beacon given to him by Q to call for reinforcements (with a fleet of helicopters arriving at the island) and have Silva captured and brought to MI-6's new headquarters.
However, it turns out that Silva had planned to be captured in order to get to M, and then escapes when a virus from his laptop infects MI6's defense system as Q attempts to decrypt it and retrieve the list. The virus opens all electronically locked doors in the base, including the door to Silva's cell, which enabled his release from his cell and killing the guards watching his cell. He escapes into the London Underground through a floor grate and disguises himself as a Metropolitan Police officer. Bond eventually catches up to Silva, who tries to kill him by sending a subway train off its tracks and into his path. Bond dodges the runaway train, however, and continues pursuing Silva.
After meeting up with more of his men, who are also disguised as Metropolitan police officers, Silva shoots his way into the courthouse in which M is sitting before a public enquiry, where he intends to publicly execute her. Silva and his henchmen burst into the courtroom and kill several people, but before Silva can kill M, her intended successor Gareth Mallory pushes her out of the way and takes a bullet in the shoulder that was meant for her. Bond appears at the scene, and he, Mallory, and Eve Moneypenny provide cover as they return fire against Silva and his henchmen. Bond then shoots two nearby fire extinguishers, creating a smokescreen that allows him and his allies to escort M to safety, with Mallory and Eve Moneypenny evacuating the rest of the crowd out of the courthouse building. Silva leaves with his remaining henchmen.
Tired of Silva being one step ahead of them, Bond devises a plan to lead him and his henchmen into a trap. He has Q set up an electronic trail that only Silva can follow, while he drives M (using her as a bait) to his ancestral home in Scotland, the eponymous Skyfall Lodge. After meeting the estate's gamekeeper, Kincade, the trio prepare for Silva's inevitable attack by setting up various boobytraps around the house. Silva's first wave of his henchmen descends upon the Skyfall estate and opens fire, and M is mortally wounded by a stray shot fired by one of Silva's henchmen. Silva himself arrives with a second wave of his henchmen in a helicopter gunship, laying waste to the lodge before Bond destroys it in a gigantic explosion. Silva follows M and Kincade to the Lodge's chapel, but not before ordering his two surviving henchmen to kill Bond - only for Bond to kill them.
Silva walks to the chapel, where he notices the tombstone of Bond's parents before entering. He he finds M inside and muses that "it had to be here". When Kincade emerges from a side room, Silva fires a warning shot and warns him not to interfere. Noticing that M is bleeding, he finds that he cannot bring himself to kill her, so he places his pistol in M's hand, presses it towards her temple and presses his head against hers, begging her to pull the trigger and put them both out of their misery. At that moment, however, Bond arrives and throws his father's hunting knife into Silva's back, eliciting a scream of pain. Though mortally wounded, Silva tries to attack Bond, but only gets a few steps before falling to his knees; Bond then looks into his eyes and declares "Last rat standing" before Silva collapses and dies at Bond's feet. Despite his death, Silva ultimately succeeds in achieving his revenge against M posthumously, as she succumbs to her gunshot wound and dies in Bond's arms.
Spectre[]
In Spectre, it is revealed that Silva, along with Le Chiffre and Dominic Greene, were agents of the crime syndicate Spectre. led by Bond's archnemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Personality[]
Despite his chaotic methods, Silva maintains an air of calm and often handles things with ease - even after Bond killed his men, and being held at gunpoint by the latter, Silva remained completely reserved and even managed to mock him. He was charismatic and very strategic, thinking out all of his plans in full detail and trying not to leave anything to chance, or else was very good at improvising. Silva was also brilliant, able not only to outsmart M, but Q and Bond as well, even going so far to use them as part of his plan. Even M, who has always been critical of Bond, described Silva as 'a brilliant agent'. He was also sexually ambiguous; he had a female lover and also made strong overtures toward Bond, though whether he actually meant it and was actually gay or bisexual, or was simply doing this to mess with Bond, is left open to interpretation.
Though Silva maintained an intensely strong hatred towards M, he is also conflicted about her. He was convinced that he had survived to "look into [her] eyes one last time". During their confrontation in the MI6 cell room where he is held after his initial capture, he grew increasingly more agitated and deranged as she refused to show any remorse or regret for her actions, especially when she refuses to use his real name. When he first encounters Bond, he blames M personally for compelling him towards a path that could easily kill him, quite ignoring his own willingness to do so. He calls her "Mommy" or "Mother" multiple times, and he ultimately cannot bring himself to personally kill her - to the point when he has her at the point of a gun, and can't bring himself to pull the trigger. He does have a sarcastic wit, shown constantly against James Bond during their battle of wits, even using Bond's own words against him.
It has been theorized that Silva had a borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by an intense fear of abandonment, emotional extremes, and an unstable sense of identity. He also shows sociopathic behavior, including a laid-back reaction to dangerous or sadistic situations, a lack of compassion towards even his allies, and above all, he was particularly sadistic towards M - before blowing up MI6, he sent a computerized message mocking her, and later taunted her with unleashing names of NATO agents on YouTube to intensify the fact that she had failed.
Appearance[]
Raoul Silva is a tall, muscular man with a long, angular face, long blonde hair, and blue eyes. He wears a prosthetic upper jaw to conceal the damage done by the failed cyanide capsule; without it, his left cheek collapses, causing his lower eyelid to droop as well, and he is left with only a few stubs of teeth which are grey with decay (see below).
In his first appearance, he wears a cream jacket, a Prada tile print dress shirt, brown waistcoat and trousers, and brown shoes. After escaping his cell at MI6, he disguises himself as a Metropolitan police officer. In the final showdown at Skyfall, he wears all black: turtleneck, trenchcoat, trousers, and combat boots. His weapons of choice include explosives, a Glock 13, a Steyr M9-A1 (during the Skyfall assault), a helicopter gunship, a subway train, and antique flintlock dueling pistols (used to kill his lover Sévérine in a "William Tell" game he forces Bond to participate in).
Quotes[]
“ | What is this if not betrayal? She's sending you off to me knowing you are not ready, knowing you will likely die. Mommy was very bad! | „ |
~ Silva talking to Bond about M. |
“ | If you wanted, you can pick your own secret missions as I do. Name it. Name it! Destabilize a multinational by manipulating stocks. Easy. Interrupt transmissions from a spy satellite over Kabul. Done! Hmm. Rig an election in Uganda. All to the highest bidder... just point and click. | „ |
~ Silva explaining his list of cyberterrorist deeds to Bond. |
“ | Silva: (giggles) You're smaller than I remember! M: Whereas I barely remember you at all. Silva: Strange. For me, it feels just like yesterday. Are you surprised? M: Not particularly. But then you always were a slippery one. Silva: Maybe that's why you like me so much. M: You flatter yourself. Silva: (scoffs) No remorse. Just as I had imagined. M: Regret is unprofessional. Silva: (laughs) "Regret is unprofessional". They kept me for five months, in a room with no air. They tortured me, and I protected your secrets, I protected you, but they made suffer, and suffer... and suffer. And then I realized, it was you, who betrayed me. You betrayed me, so I only have one thing left; my cyanide capsule. |
„ |
~ Silva's reunion with M. |
“ | Do you know what it does to you? Hydrogen cyanide? Look upon your work... Mother. | „ |
~ Silva to M as he reveals his disfigurement. |
“ | Not such a clever boy. | „ |
~ Silva's taunting message to Q after his laptop releases a virus into MI6's mainframe. |
“ | You see what comes of all this running around, Mr. Bond? All this jumping and fighting; it's exhausting. Relax. You need to relax. Ah well, mother's calling. I'll give her a goodbye kiss for you. | „ |
~ Silva taunting Bond at the frozen lake. |
“ | Do it, do it. Only you can do it, do it. | „ |
~ Silva's last words as he urges M to kill him and before being stabbed by Bond. |
Gallery[]
Reception[]
Upon the film's release, Javier Bardem received widespread acclaim from film critics, who called his Silva "a classic, menacing and cool Bond villain."
Trivia[]
- The filmmakers of Skyfall stated they based the character in part on Heath Ledger's interpretation of The Joker in The Dark Knight; both characters are disfigured, both have bleached hair and a penchant for theatrical violence, and both are obsessed with battling a character they view as an archenemy. As an additional reference, both the Joker and Silva planned to be caught and subsequently escape in service of their larger scheme.
- Silva is similar to several other James Bond villains:
- Alec Trevelyan from 1995's Goldeneye. Both are ex-MI6 agents and had close personal relationships with one of their co-workers (Bond for Trevelyan/M for Silva). Because of this, both are seen as "Anti-Bonds". Both seek revenge for MI6 betraying them (MI6 handing the Trevelyans and the Lienz Cossacks back to the Russians/MI6 for trading Silva over to the Chinese in order to free six captive agents). After leaving MI6 both start their own criminal operations, and major components of their plans involve computer hacking. Both have scarred faces (Part of Trevelyan's face being burned by the explosion in a Soviet chemical plant/Massive burning damage was done to Silva's face during a failed attempt at using a suicide cyanide pill that forces him to wear a brace in his mouth).
- Francisco Scaramanga from 1974's The Man With the Golden Gun. Both are of Hispanic heritage, and are presented as being Bond's equal. Both feel they share a certain special connection with Bond. Both also have island lairs near China, and have a woman in their service (Andrea Anders/Sévérine) who is fearful of them and come to have hopes that Bond can kill their employers only to have Scaramanga and Silva eventually shoot and kill them personally.
- Elektra King from 1999's The World Is Not Enough. Both are motivated by a grudge against M, who had chosen to sacrifice them for the "greater good". Both Elektra and Silva remotely set off explosions in the Vauxhall Building, the official headquarters of MI6. Elektra is particularly resentful of her father, who had consulted with M when Elektra had been kidnapped years before (M advised her father not to pay the ransom asked for, as it would be "negotiating with terrorists"). Silva sees M as a mother figure.
- The whiskey Silva pours out for Bond is a 50-year-old Macallen, a reference to the fact that Skyfall was released on the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No.
- Silva's island was based on the real-life Japanese island of Hashima; Silva faked a leak at the island's chemical plant to cause the inhabitants to abandon it, based on the real chemical leak that caused the evacuation of the real island.
- The fallen statue on Silva's island is a reference to Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet "Ozymandius", which is about time defeating a once-mighty empire. The poem M quotes from at her hearing right before Silva storms in is Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses", which is about tenacity and striving forward even in the face of such decline.
- Originally, the German actor Michael Pink was supposed to play the role until Bardem replaced him. Pink was recast as one of Silva's henchmen.
- Daniel Craig befriended Javier Bardem on the set, both being big fans of rugby. In his youth, Craig played for Hoylake Rugby Football Club in Wirral, Merseyside. Bardem played for Club de Rugby Liceo Francés in Madrid, and even made the Spanish national team at underage level.
- His YouTube name "Vials" is an anagram of his new surname "Silva".
- Additionally, his name (revealed as Raoul Silva in the script) is an anagram of "A Rival Soul", reflective of his relationship as the evil counterpart of James Bond. His real name, Tiago, is Spanish for James.
- Additionally, his message to M, "Think on your sins", is an anagram of "Your son is not in HK", referencing their past and how he viewed her as a maternal figure.
- Silva is ironically the first Bond villain to actually succeed in his goals, namely humiliating MI6 and killing M.
- His first name, Raoul, is never mentioned in the film, with characters referring to him only as "Mr. Silva"; he is also listed as "Silva" in the credits.
- Silva is the first James Bond main antagonist to be killed directly by Bond himself in the Daniel Craig era, since Le Chiffre was executed by Mr. White and Dominic Greene was killed offscreen by a SPECTRE assassin.
- Silva is something of a rarity for the James Bond series in that, unlike the majority of the other main illains, he is a tragic figure whose crimes are motivated, in part, by circumstances beyond his control, namely being imprisoned and tortured.
External links[]
- Raoul Silva on Wikipedia
- Raoul Silva on the James Bond Wiki
- Raoul Silva on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki